ABSTRACT
This thesis is concerned with stimulating 10-form students’ presentation in English
speaking classroom. Specifically, a survey will be taken on teachers of English and 10-
form students at Marie Curie High school in Hai Phong city to consider how English
speaking lessons are conducted and how students respond to English speaking lessons. The
thesis also study students’ difficulties when participating in English speaking lessons. This
thesis also recommends some practical tips and typical classroom activities which were
applied by the author and suggested by teachers of English at Marie Curie High school to
improve quality of teaching and learning presentation in English.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Mr. Le The Nghiep for his guidance
and inspiration while I was working on this study.
Research for this paper was supported by the Post-graduate Department - College of
Foreign Languages – Hanoi National University with encouragements and permissions.
I would also like to acknowledge the advice, comments I have received from my colleagues
at Marie Curie High school in Haiphong.
My thanks also go to 10 teachers and 100 students at Marie Curie High school in
Haiphong who provided me with valuable data for the study so that I can have a better
view of activities in presentation task in English speaking classes at Marie Curie High
school in Haiphong.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support.
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ABBREVIATIONS
CA: Communication Apprehension
CLT: Communicative Language Teaching
EFL: English as Foreign Language
ELT: English Language Teaching
ESL: English as Second Language
FL: Foreign Language
L1: First Language
L2: Second Language
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PART I
INTRODUCTION
1. RATIONALE
As English has been an international language, the ability to present a topic is clearly
valuable at every stage of students’ lives. Whatever the subjects they study, presentation
will bring them success in English speaking classes, academic work, job interviews and
their future work life – it is the most transferable of all their skills, and a critical part of
their professional development. Presentation is also an important part in an English
speaking class at high school, in which students are required to present their ideas in a
short and simple way.
This research is motivated by both subjective and objective reasons. Subjectively, doing a
research on Methodology, especially on teaching speaking is very useful for a teacher of
English. Objectively, the importance of English in communication is increasingly
emphasized, while the present English teaching at Vietnam’s high schools seems to face
with an obstacle in improving learners’ communicative competence. According to
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), the purpose of language teaching and learning
is to develop communicative competence in the target language. Littlewood also states:
“One of the most characteristic features of Communicative Language Teaching is that it
pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language”.
However, the traditional method applied at Vietnamese secondary schools does not comply
with the textbook at all. Most teachers focus on teaching vocabulary, grammar, reading and
writing skills. They do not pay adequate attention to speaking and listening skills. As a
result, this leads to some problems. Learners can be good at written English but they have
difficulty in using it in oral communication. Besides, their English is not good enough to
use in real communicating situations. Moreover, teaching and learning conditions at
Vietnamese secondary schools are face with some drawbacks. A class of 45 to 50 learners
is not appropriate for language teaching and learning. Therefore, a suggested solution is
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that teachers should apply suitable classroom activities to stimulate learners’ speaking
ability right from the beginning.
Hopefully, this study will make a small contribution to the application of communicative
language teaching approach in developing the 10
th
form learners’ ability in presentation at
Vietnamese secondary schools in general and at Marie Curie high school in Haiphong in
particular.
2. OBJECTS OF STUDY
Due to actual English teaching and learning conditions, so far the most widely used
English textbooks at Vietnamese high schools have been applied to 7-year English course.
Thus, the subjects of the study will be the high school students who use 7-year English
textbooks. For the limitation of the study, it can only focus on the 10
th
form Marie Curie
high school students.
3. AIMS OF STUDY
Fist of all, this study is conducted to emphasize the importance of presentation skill in
learning English.
Secondly, this study will suggest some classroom activities to stimulate the 10
th
form Marie
Curie High school students in presentation tasks in an English speaking class.
Finally, it provides suggestions for teachers of English to prepare English lessons at Marie
Curie High school.
4. SCOPE OF STUDY
Due to the limit of the thesis, the study can not cover all techniques to stimulate students’
speaking ability in a language class. Therefore, it will focus on some typical classroom
activities which may produce a stimulus for the 10
th
form Marie Curie High school
students’ presentation.
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5. METHODOLOGY OF STUDY
The theoretical background of the study is mainly based on the books and documents
written by a number of scholars on foreign language teaching.
This study is conducted based on qualitative and quantitative methods. Comments,
remarks, suggestions and conclusions are based on actual researches, experience, and
discussions. Besides, books are used as reference.
Situational survey will be conducted on the students’ learning style and motivation, their
problems in English presentation tasks. The study will also be conducted on teachers’
techniques to raise students’ ability of presentation.
Questionnaires will be given to analyze learners’ attitude towards presentation tasks as
well as teachers’ techniques in speaking classes and needs in foreign language teaching
and learning.
6. RESEARCH HYPOTHESES
Perhaps one of the obvious problems is the lack of students’ interest and active
participation in learning activities. Traditional methods of teaching in English classrooms
have focused on passive learning. This problem is probably caused by less exciting and
practical activities of teachers. The questions to be dealt with are:
How important is presentation to foreign language learning?
What should be done to stimulate the 10
th
form Marie Curie High school students in
presentation tasks in an English speaking class?
7. DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study is intended to consist of three parts:
1. Part 1 – Introduction: give reasons for choosing the thesis, objects, aims and scope
of the study as well as the methodology of the study.
2. Part 2 – Development: will be divided into three chapters:
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Chapter 1: Literature Review focus on some definitions of presentation, types of
presentation. Some factors that prevent students from presenting a topic and
communicative classroom activities are also mentioned as the basis of the thesis. Finally,
the thesis discuss the important of integrating skills, the relation between presentation and
other skills including reading, writing and listening.
Chapter 2: The study gives the data analysis from the survey of 10 teachers of
English and 100 students at Marie Curie High school to make the foundation for the
activities in chapter 3.
Chapter 3: indicates some typical activities and practical tips for teacher to
stimulate 10-form students’ presentation in an English speaking lesson and examples for
illustration.
3. Part 3 – Conclusion: summarizes the study, limitations of the study and suggestions
for further study.
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PART II: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. SOME DEFINITIONS
Presentation is generally defined in different dictionaries is to show and to explain the
content of a topic to an audience or to audiences. According to Wikipedia – The Free
Encyclopedia, presentation is the process of showing and explaining the content of a topic
to an audience. The same definition is also recognized by Longman Language Activator
(1998: 1017) – To present is to be the person who tells the people watching or listening
about the different things what will happen or are happening.
For 10-form students, presentation is simplified and limited in a given topic. In a typical
10-form English speaking lesson, students are asked to make small presentations based on
a given topic. The lesson is normally built up with three tasks:
- Task 1: Students practice sample dialogues to have a general understanding about
the topic;
- Task 2: Students participate in group discussion, in which students express their
ideas and get to know the others’ ideas on the given topic.
- Task 3: From the ideas collected from discussion task, students integrate the ideas
to make a presentation. This presentation will be presented by a student on behalf
of his/her group.
1.2. FACTORS PREVENT STUDENTS FROM PRESENTING A TOPIC
1.2.1. Factors of Foreign Language Anxiety
Anxiety has been found to interfere with many types of learning but when it is associated
with learning a second or foreign language, it is termed as ‘second/foreign language
anxiety’. It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Young, 1991) and can be
defined as a subjective feeling of tension, apprehension, nervousness, and worry associated
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